Monday, July 19, 2010

7/12 - back in oct when nana first went into the hospital there was talk about her having a tumor. it was all dismissed, it was an obstruction, they did some sort of surgery to skip part of the lower stomach parts & she was all better.

on fri nite nana's caregiver took her back to the ER bc she was yellow & on sun they transferred her up to SD. she has another obstruction & in the CT scan they discovered it's a tumor. [so it was true] it's large, above her pancreas & blocking the tube where the gallbladder & liver stuffs go -> hence the yellows.

she's in good spirits, no pain, except for hunger pangs & wants to go home.

7/13 - spoke with the doctors, the surgery to remove the tumor is a whipple. it's one of the most invasive surgeries & doc's agree the benefits would not outweigh the risks. also, whatever foreign stuff is growing in her is spreading.

the social worker told me nana should be aware of what's going on & after hearing nana on the phone with my uncle i decided to tell her everything.

her response: "i'm satisfied with what God has given me"

i don't know that i've ever heard my nana reference God, so to hear those words & that reference i knew she understood, although it truly broke my heart.

7/14 - uncle B & daughter show up, we all saw nana off to her surgery, a drain for her liver. i went back in the evening to check on her, her color looked so much better, but she was tired.

since then some days are good, others not so much. there are days where she talks & laughs other days when she just kind of smiles at me.

7/19 - today they put the stint in, the procedure they were supposed to do when the drain went in [the drain requires an external capture bag]. although her veins are collapsing & they're having a heck of a time putting an iv in her, i think the stint is a more promising fix than the drain.

i'm still waiting for the tumor biopsy results, although we're pretty sure it's cancer, it's a matter of identifying what kind & how far along it is.